Sonic Stereotypes: Sneering Record Shop Man

When I was about 15, I went into Vinyl Exchange in Manchester. It was the first time I’d gone record shopping in a city after cutting my teeth in my local (and brilliant) X Records. Unaided and green, after a fruitless search amongst the racks, I went up to the counter and asked “Excuse me, do you have The Palace of Gilded Sin by The Burritos?” I was quickly met with “The Gilded Palace of Sin – The Flying Burrito Brothers. Classic. I can’t believe you don’t own it already.” And so, my 15 year-old self met Sneering Record Shop Man for the first time.
Despite my anger (I mean, I was 15 and asking for a great record that should have been met with ‘Jeez! That’s an excellent choice… lemme fish it out for you and give you some more tips like this… you’re only young and buying stuff like this? There’s hope for us yet!’) I didn’t let it put me off going into the belly of muso-ville (although in fairness, I’ve never stepped foot in Vinyl Exchange since) and I soon found out that Sneering Record Shop Man wasn’t the property of one place.

Mostly, record shopping is a hugely pleasurable experience for me. The only headache I usually get is “Damn! I have